


Der Bibel Schleifen

by orphan_account



Category: Historical Fiction, Historical Nonfiction, Original Work
Genre: Execution, Gen, Holocaust, Join or Die, Purple Triangles, Religious Persecution, Torture
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-18
Updated: 2020-05-18
Packaged: 2021-03-03 01:47:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 612
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24246742
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Nazi Germany. Millions fighting. Millions in prisons for refusing to do that. Millions dying because of that. The purple triangle. A badge of shame. Wore proudly. Persecuted all the more because. One of the longest lasting examples of perseverance in the face of seemingly overwhelming odds. Seemingly permanent odds. Their story, mostly ignored. Dismissed. Some of them, still alive. Most of them, not. All of them were persecuted. Der Bibel Schleifen. The Bible Students. The Purple Triangles.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 2





	Der Bibel Schleifen

Nazi Germany. The _Third Reich_. 1933 to 1945. 

Concentration Camps. 1940 to 1945. Hell. 

For some, the stay was permanent. Ethnic background, criminal activity. 

For others, "voluntary." Because they wouldn't sign a paper. A paper that would have completely forfeit their beliefs. 

Under threat, under carry out of, under execution. They would not sign. Because it was wrong. 

_Der_ _Bibel Schleifen_. 

The Bible Students. 

Guillotine. Death march. Gas chamber. Mine work. Torture. Threat. 

Nothing worked. Not on the dedicated members. 

And damn them, they always found a way to find religious literature. To help each other. 

They made wonderful workers, good _Kapo_ , bad enforcers. They did not lie. They did not try to escape. They did what they told. Short of giving up their beliefs. 

There were guards who valued them for their work and couldn't have given less of a shit about their belief system or their refusal to surrender such. 

There were guards who actively tried to kill them. 

Other prisoners the same. 

A starving man could always count on a _Bibel Schleifen_ giving him some bread. Even if he would die in the night. 

Not even his own people would do the same. 

_Bibel Schleifen_ would not hurt others. Not good enforcers. 

They had a strict moral code. 

They would tell the truth until it compromised their belief or the safety of their brothers and sisters, and then they just would not speak. 

They did not lie. 

They did not try to escape. 

In 1933, a small Camp was hit by Allied stealth fighters in the night. Fences were destroyed. Guard towers crumbled. Lights gone. Electricity blown away. Guards and prisoners dead and dying in the mud. 

It was a camp of low-risk, low impact prisoners. The ones who didn't matter. Who weren't particularly special. Didn't qualify for special attention of the good or bad kind. 

But they ran then. Escape wouldn't have been surer. 

Except for _d_ _er B_ _ibel Schleifen_. 

They congregated on an unspoken meeting place in the middle of the torn camp. Quickly and quietly mourned the death of fellow brothers in the air strike. Moved on. 

They split into groups, locating the wounded and bringing them to the shelter of the last standing building, a small machine shed just beyond what was once a boundary fence. It was dark, quiet, new, and unobtrusive. The air strike hadn't known about it, hadn't seen it. Hadn't dropped a missile on it. 

Wounded guards were moved to one half of the building, prisoners to other. There were only three guards who were unhurt. Who hadn't run with everyone else. They were in shock, and guided to the shed to watch over their friends and commanders. 

Water was gathered, food scavenged, wounds cleaned and bandaged. 

Of the two-hundred-twelve prisoners originally in the camp, fifteen were dead. Another fifty were wounded seriously. The rest had fled. 

And thirty-one _Bibel Schleifen_ _._

They comforted the dying. Buried the dead in three-foot individual graves with respect and appropriate gravity. 

There was no rejoicing over dead or hurt guards. Not even those who had brutally tortured them. 

They waited there, consoling the dying, nursing the wounded back to health, for seven days. Until the dispatched soldier brigade was able to march to them. Medics took over. Prisoners were shackled together. Some were beaten for leaving, even though they hadn't. 

Some soldiers valued them. Some wanted to see them dead. 

_Der Bibel Schleifen_ did not make good torturers. They refused to be anyone's enemy. 

_Bibel Schleifen._ Dying for their beliefs. Comforting those who did. 

_Der_ Bibel _Schleifen_ did not lie. They did not compromise their beliefs. 

_Der Bibel Schleifen_. Voluntary prisoners. The Purple Triangles. 


End file.
